Books of the late 80s to early 00s Anglo-American tea revival

Post Reply
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:33 am

I feel like there ought to be a better subject name, but I don't know what it is.

Basically, starting around the late 80s, a bunch of British authors started writing books on British tea-culture that were specifically targeted to American audiences. The best relationship I can think of to this is sort of like the books on Chinese tea-culture that specifically target a Taiwanese audience.

A few clues are that they tend to avoid or ignore any parts of British tea-history that disrupt the aesthetic; you will never see one of these books mention a Teasmade, for instance. Another is Americanized ingredients for tea-snacks, although to some degree this was also a byproduct of when they were written, as postwar Britain went through a process of Americanization that modified many recipes. So similar to the American Bed & Breakfast books, there will be a lot of cream cheese. :)

Early Jane Pettigrew before she was influenced by James Norwood Pratt and the California gourmands might be a good example, such as her "Jane Pettigrew's Tea-Time" book from 1986.

Other examples I can think of:

The Afternoon Tea Book by Michael Smith (1986)
The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea by Helen Simpson (1986)
A Little English Book of Teas by Rosa Mashiter (1989)

I'm sure there are more.

I think they deserve their own subcategory because they are a unique window into American tea-culture at the time, using old British tea culture as the mirror; they are also linked to many of the other American tea-cultures of the time, like the American Bed & Breakfast culture and the Victoria Magazine culture, allowing a person to see how they are all connected.

*Edit:

Another one, A Proper Tea by Joanna Isles (1987)
User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:42 pm

Not sure if this is appropriate to post here but am hoping for input from @mbanu

I've noticed that in america, tea drinking is often associated with illness and depression while coffee is associated with business and active life style. Whenever I am sick, my friends often tell me to get some extra sleep and...tea! When I am visiting a friend and conversation turns to some more depressing topics, the tea comes out.

This is reflected in tv shows and movies as well. How did this happen? How did tea become the hot beverage of choice for the Ill and discontent?
Ethan Kurland
Vendor
Posts: 1026
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:01 am
Location: Boston
Contact:

Sat Dec 18, 2021 6:05 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:42 pm
Not sure if this is appropriate to post here but am hoping for input from mbanu..... How did this happen? How did tea become the hot beverage of choice for the Ill and discontent?
I am not mbanu, of course, & my info is 1% of the explanation:

When tv was still only in black & white, many times a day there was an animated steaming kettle on for just seconds with a jingle sung, "Take tea and see."
No mention of taste. I infer it was meant tea soothes.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sat Dec 18, 2021 6:06 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:42 pm
Not sure if this is appropriate to post here but am hoping for input from mbanu

I've noticed that in america, tea drinking is often associated with illness and depression while coffee is associated with business and active life style. Whenever I am sick, my friends often tell me to get some extra sleep and...tea! When I am visiting a friend and conversation turns to some more depressing topics, the tea comes out.

This is reflected in tv shows and movies as well. How did this happen? How did tea become the hot beverage of choice for the Ill and discontent?
Same happens in Europe. I think it has to do with that tea, in the sense of herbal teas or tisanes are sort of the Western counterpart of TCM. All sorts of herbal teas are used to treat a variety of illnesses. And that the tea as consumed in Asia came later on into the game. That’s my interpretation.
Andrew S
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:53 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Sat Dec 18, 2021 6:24 pm

@LeoFox: I have noticed that, but never really gave it much thought. It's an interesting point.

Perhaps coffee is quick, stimulating and strong, whereas tea takes more time to prepare, feels more calming (or at least less stimulating) and tastes smoother (at least generally). At least, that is why the different treatment between the two makes instinctive sense to me.

There also feels to be some sort of stereotypical association between men in the city doing deals over cups of espresso, and women at home meeting up socially while sipping tea. People seem to view coffee as being masculine and part of the business world, whereas tea seems to be regarded as being feminine and part of the domestic world. I'm not quite sure why

I wonder if there is some sort of historical connection to tea versus coffee when the two were introduced to Europe. I think that coffee houses were treated almost like pubs, and were somewhat controversial, being places where news, politics and generally progressive topics were discussed. I think that tea was always different in that regard (and perhaps more expensive, though I am not sure).

Andrew
.m.
Posts: 877
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:26 pm
Location: Prague

Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:42 pm

@Andrew S An exception to that might be Dutch "coffee shops" which are generally not associated with business and active lifestyle. :lol:
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:46 pm

In the rural South (and probably elsewhere in the US) we didn’t have a word for tisane. Tea could be iced tea, hot toddy, or herbal folk remedy imploring hot water as a base. In all cases these drinks are consumed for a purpose other than stimulation. Iced tea’s bitterness is cooling on hot days, hot toddy type drinks soothe sore throats & stomach aches, and herbal folk teas are used to treat various ailments.

We typically drink strong black coffee for stimulation.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Tue Dec 21, 2021 7:59 pm

Baisao wrote:
Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:46 pm
In the rural South (and probably elsewhere in the US) we didn’t have a word for tisane. Tea could be iced tea, hot toddy, or herbal folk remedy imploring hot water as a base. In all cases these drinks are consumed for a purpose other than stimulation. Iced tea’s bitterness is cooling on hot days, hot toddy type drinks soothe sore throats & stomach aches, and herbal folk teas are used to treat various ailments.

We typically drink strong black coffee for stimulation.
On a side note, Chinese is also very liberal with the use of the word tea. Anything boiled and drunken can be called tea, even things like a kind of Almond milk(specialty of South Taiwan).
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:18 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:42 pm
Not sure if this is appropriate to post here but am hoping for input from mbanu

I've noticed that in america, tea drinking is often associated with illness and depression while coffee is associated with business and active life style. Whenever I am sick, my friends often tell me to get some extra sleep and...tea! When I am visiting a friend and conversation turns to some more depressing topics, the tea comes out.

This is reflected in tv shows and movies as well. How did this happen? How did tea become the hot beverage of choice for the Ill and discontent?
I think that coffee is associated with business because many businesses provided free coffee to workers so that production did not slow when they were exhausted. A similar thing happened in the UK with tea. I don't quite know the history of it... Frederick Taylor believed that coffee was a "narcotic poison" and was against it, so it must have come from a later school of management thought. Maybe the "Human Relations" school? Their big claim to fame is convincing factory owners that there were production-based reasons for allowing workers to take breaks on the job, especially where they could talk to other workers, rather than solitary "rest pauses" in front of their machine, and benefits to line bosses conversing casually with the workers as well, which was not the standard approach when Mayo's The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization came out in 1933.

So I would guess that the coffee-break as being associated with business is from no earlier than the 1930s. For context, by 1958 the coffee-break was an accepted American business practice, but managers were alarmed that workers were taking more than 10 minutes, as seen in this educational video. :D



In it, they mention that in 1948, only around 35% of Americans were likely to take a coffee-break at work. So maybe the association with business is even later, 1950s?

During that time both tea and coffee were popular for home service -- a lot of American tea-sets from that era are actually tea-and-coffee sets, with one pot to brew tea, and one pot to brew coffee (the taller pot generally being the coffee-pot). So maybe another angle to approach it would be to ask why the tea-and-coffee set was slowly replaced by the tea-only set, which I'm not so sure on either, sadly.
Andrew S
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:53 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:52 pm

Of course, an American coffee break is an English tea break; yet another way that the two seem to be treated somewhat differently in different cultures.

The same sentiments that you described regarding the increase or decrease in efficiency resulting from coffee breaks seem to have been echoed in respect of tea breaks: http://www.teatoastandtravel.com/the-gr ... tea-break/

Presumably the appetite for coffee in America was driven to some extent by Italian migration (and, as I understand it, also by American soldiers returning from service in Italy after the Second World War).

Andrew
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Wed Mar 02, 2022 11:05 am

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:42 pm
Not sure if this is appropriate to post here but am hoping for input from mbanu

I've noticed that in america, tea drinking is often associated with illness and depression while coffee is associated with business and active life style. Whenever I am sick, my friends often tell me to get some extra sleep and...tea! When I am visiting a friend and conversation turns to some more depressing topics, the tea comes out.

This is reflected in tv shows and movies as well. How did this happen? How did tea become the hot beverage of choice for the Ill and discontent?
Off-topic to the thread (maybe it could be split off into its own topic?), but another answer is that once the association was created, it was reinforced through advertising.



This was part of the "Lipton: The Change of Pace Drink" ad campaign that started in the early 1960s.
Post Reply